Learn useful phrases to use at the post office
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| INTRODUCTION |
| ArabicPod101.com presents Arabic Survival Phrases. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Arabic speaking countries, with particular focus on Morocco. So join us for Arabic Survival phrases. You will be surprised at how far a little Arabic will go. |
| Now before we jump in, remember to stop by ArabicPod101.com, there you’ll find an accompanying PDF, additional learning tools in the premium learning center, and other great Arabic language learning materials. In addition, you’ll find more information in the post. And if you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| In today's lesson, we're going to take a trip to the post office. |
| Now, "the post office" in Arabic is: Al-barid (البريد). |
| One more time: Al-barid |
| Al-barid |
| In spoken Arabic, it's l-bosta (البوسطة). |
| l-bosta |
| l-bosta |
| And today, we’re going to work on getting your postcards, letters, and packages home. The expression to accomplish this is "I'd like to send this to ..." and then the desired country. |
| For today's lesson, we'll use New York. |
| In Arabic, "I'd like to send this to New York" is: biġīt nsiīfṭ hadī linyuūīūrk (بغيت نسيفط هدي لنيويورك). |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: biġīt nsiīfṭ hadī linyuūīūrk |
| biġīt nsiīfṭ hadī linyuūīūrk |
| The first word, biġīt (بغيت), means "I'd like." |
| biġīt |
| biġīt |
| This is followed by nsiīfṭ (نسيفط), which is a conjugated form of "send." |
| nsiīfṭ |
| nsiīfṭ |
| So to recap here, we have: biġīt nsiīfṭ, and literally, this means “I’d like to send.” |
| Let’s take a look at the next: hadī (هدي), which means "this" |
| hadī |
| hadī |
| This is followed by l (ل), which means "to." |
| l |
| l |
| This is followed by niyuūīūrk, “New York" |
| So altogether, we have: biġīt nsiīfṭ hadī linyuūīūrk and this means "I'd like to send this to New York." |
| Now, we can build this up a bit by adding in the words for what we would like to send. For example, above we mentioned postcards, letters, and packages, so let's start there. |
| The word for "postcard" in Arabic is bitaqa (بطاقة). |
| bitaqa |
| bitaqa |
| In spoken Arabic, it’s kārt buūstal from French (carte postale). |
| kārt buūstal |
| One more time: kārt buūstal |
| So the expression would now sound like this: biġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kārt buūstal- niyuūīūrk (بغيت نسيفط هاد البطاقة لنيويورك). |
| biġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kārt buūstal- niyuūīūrk |
| Let’s break it down: biġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kārt buūstal- niyuūīūrk |
| Let’s read it again: biġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kārt buūstal- niyuūīūrk |
| The order of the words in this phrase is the same as in English. |
| kārt buūstal, “postcard,” comes after hād “this.” |
| Now, notice that we slightly changed hadī, which means “this” in the sentence before, to hād, which also means “this” because it’s followed by a noun, in our case, it’s kārt buūstal, “post card.” |
| We can do the same thing with "letter." |
| “Letter” in Arabic is, risala (رسالة). |
| risala |
| risala |
| So the expression “I’d like to send this letter to New York.” is bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-rrinsal-ah liniyuūīūrk (بغيت نسيفط هاد الرسالة لنيويورك). |
| bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-rrinsal-ah liniyuūīūrk |
| And finally, we have the word for "package," which is kuūliyah (الكولية). |
| kuūliyah |
| kuūliyah |
| Now, a package requires a closer look, which we'll do in the next lesson. |
| But the expression, "I'd like to send this package to New York" is bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kuūliyah liniyuūīūrk (بغيت نسيفط هاد الكولية لنيويورك). |
| Cultural Insights |
| Stamps are available at tobacco stores in addition to the post office it is best to mail your letters at the mail slot outside the post office since pickups can be infrequent at other mailboxes. |
| Post offices hours are (Mon-Fri) 8:30am-12:00pm and 2:30-6pm. |
Outro |
| Okay, to close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You'll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so حظ سعيد, that means "good luck" in Arabic. |
| Ok, here we go! |
| "I’d like to send this to New York." - biġīt nsiīfṭ hadī linyuūīūrk |
| biġīt nsiīfṭ hadī linyuūīūrk |
| biġīt nsiīfṭ hadī linyuūīūrk |
| "I’d like to send this postcard to New York." - biġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kārt buūstal- niyuūīūrk |
| biġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kārt buūstal- niyuūīūrk |
| biġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kārt buūstal- niyuūīūrk |
| "I’d like to send this letter to New York." - bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-rrinsal-ah liniyuūīūrk |
| bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-rrinsal-ah liniyuūīūrk |
| bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-rrinsal-ah liniyuūīūrk |
| "I’d like to send this package to New York." - bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kuūliyah liniyuūīūrk |
| bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kuūliyah liniyuūīūrk |
| bġīt nsīfṭ hād al-kuūliyah liniyuūīūrk |
| All right. This is going to do it for this lesson of Arabic Survival Phrases. Remember to stop by ArabicPod101.com. There you’ll find an accompanying PDF, additional learning tools in the premium learning center, and other great Arabic language learning materials. See you soon, which in Arabic is - ilā al-liqāʾ. |
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